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Pelosi Puts Her Finger on Problem

The Intelligencer
POSTED: November 4, 2009

In introducing a new national health care proposal, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said lawmakers dealing with it will "follow in the footsteps of those who gave our country Social Security and then Medicare." Precisely.

Pelosi, D-Calif., touted the 1,990-page bill last week and said she hopes it comes up for a vote in the House this week. If so, it should be rejected.

The speaker did not seem to understand that she was pointing out the very problem that has many Americans concerned with health care proposals: cost. Both Social Security and Medicare, not to mention other entitlement projects such as Medicaid, have proven to be vastly more expensive than their proponents promised when the programs were established.

We are not talking about just a few billion dollars, either. According to one published report, Medicare has a $40 trillion unfunded liability. Despite increases in the amounts Americans pay for Social Security, that program also is deeply underfunded. And speaking of runaway health care costs, the Medicaid program's spending increased by 24.7 percent between 2008 and 2009.

Estimates of the cost of a massive new national health care program have ranged between $800 billion and $1.1 trillion over 10 years. But much of the estimates depend on hundreds of billions of dollars in health care "savings" liberals in Congress claim they can achieve.

Really? Savings like those in Medicare and Medicaid? Savings that never materialized - that became additional burdens on taxpayers?

Pelosi is absolutely right - and that is reason to reject her proposal.

Member Comments
View Comments: | 1-25 |26-28 | Post a comment
popeye
11-05-09 8:31 AM
hoopie-

You have accepted communism. You better pack your bags for Cuba before the SHTF. Just a heads up. Lock and load!

wvhoopie
11-05-09 6:34 AM
The conservative people today only know how we will fail. We can't do this, we can't do that. We don't have the money, we don't have the skill, we don't have the technology. What happened to our grit and determination to do what we needed to do? Rather than to admit defeat to the Chinese, why not fight to be the best again. Todays conservatives are defeatists and no longer live as Americans have strongly believed that we can do anything. Consevatives have accepted failure. Not me.

TruthSeeker
11-05-09 5:40 AM
I was just talking to a young woman at work yesterday who told me that "our" health insurance at work just told her that a condition that she just had diagnosed will not be covered under our group health plan because they consider it to be a pre-existing condition even though she had never been diagnosed before nor treated for it. The medical care she now needs will be expensive and she cannot afford it but it can become debilitating if left untreated. The insurance is United Health Care. She is going Friday to meet with an attorney. This kind of situation is what us libs are trying to make sure doesn't happen to anyone else EVER again. Why do you "conservatives" think this is such a bad idea? Give honest answers.

navyvet
11-05-09 1:56 AM
We would'nt have the current problem with Social Security had FDR placed within the bill the provision that Congress, under no circumstances, will use the Social Security fund to pay for other government programs.

GymJones
11-04-09 11:44 PM
C'mon Ellis, show us all how big and tough you are. You can't refute my statements, so you try to slander me with the tried and true projection card.

You're projections mean nothing to me, Ellis. I'm sorry that you're a ***** trapped in a conservative body, but those are the breaks.

Tell us again how doctors and nurses do not favor health care reform you funking idiot!!!

Do you even understand what doctors and nurses do? Seriously, are you that funking RETARDED????

Here is a hint; THEY CARE FOR PEOPLE.

Even a-holes like yourself.

GymJones
11-04-09 11:40 PM
So what your really saying is that I'm right.

You accuse me of being a bully? Good luck with that one LIAR!

Here let me help you out, since your an incompetent RANDIAN:

"The latest sign is a poll published recently in the Annals of Internal Medicine showing that 59 percent of U.S. doctors support a "single payer" plan that essentially eliminates the central role of private insurers."

-Annals of Internal Medicine

and this:

"Most doctors — 63 percent — say they favor giving patients a choice that would include both public and private insurance. That's the position of President Obama and of many congressional Democrats. In addition, another 10 percent of doctors say they favor a public option only; they'd like to see a single-payer health care system. Together, the two groups add up to 73 percent."

-The survey was designed and conducted by Drs. Salomeh Keyhani and Alex Federman of Mount Sinai School of Medicine. Over the summer of 2009.

EllisWyatt
11-04-09 10:58 PM
GymJones is an internet tough guy. He thinks he is an intellectual but if you read his posts, you will discover that he is actually a failure who is angry with his life. It may have something to do with the fact that he is living a lie. He wants to come out of the closet but he is afraid of what his family will think.

It's okay, Gym. Other gays have told their families they like to putt from the ruff. Why don't you grow some sack and tell your family the truth about your preferences?

I can understand why you are always angry. If I were you, I would probably be angry, as well.

EllisWyatt
11-04-09 10:55 PM
GymJones has let the man juice go to his brain. It is affecting his math ability, or lack thereof.

Let me help you out, because you are special and ride the special bus, okay?

I will use an example here. Currently, we have 200 million patients being seen by 1 million doctors, etc. etc. Many of these doctors are overworked, stressed, looking to retire, etc. What will happen when you tell them you are increasing their patient load, but not pay, by 20%? It already takes a long time to get an appointment with your PCP. You get 8 minutes to talk to him.

So, JimHat, if you X number of patients, and Y providers, and there are only 24 hours in a day, it follows that, if you increase X with no corresponding increase in Y, visits will be reduced or shortened.

If you think that you have a right to tell a doctor when he will work and for how much, please post your credit card, bank account and home info, as well as your Social Security #.

GymJones
11-04-09 10:39 PM
Some ignorant RANDIAN******said: "Do you think that they are going to take on 40 million new patients for less money than they earn now?"

Hey a-hole, a majority of doctors and nurses support this so-called health care reform. He11, they actually are more in favor of single payer you dumbdick.

Look it up, Cletus.

Reactionary
11-04-09 9:22 PM
Grays--Not only can HOOPIE not count, but he labors under the false pretense that I am some kind of rich man that evades taxes. Just like his hero Tim "the TAX CHEAT" Geithner,or his old buddy Tom "the TAX DODGER" Daschel, OR his new buddy, Charlie "da Kingfish" Rangel, TAX CHEAT ,Esq.

OOOOPS, they're all Demokrats!!!! Sorry HOOPIE, you 'tard!

Graysongs
11-04-09 8:22 PM
Reactionary - Einsteen ain't Einstein obviously. Of course, neither is hoopie since he can't count. Explains a lot, don't it?

wvhoopie
11-04-09 8:14 PM
Reactionary, I will be more than glad to pay my fair share of taxes. I do now and have for more years than I can count, gladly. Now you pay your fair share. Thanks

Reactionary
11-04-09 6:42 PM
eensteen--apparently it bothers YOU more that it does me!!!LOL:)

einsteen
11-04-09 6:36 PM
reactionary - That enjoyment you feel is called masochism! A psychologist may be able to help you with that.

Reactionary
11-04-09 6:08 PM
I'll keep saying it....No matter what happens, no matter HOW MUCH Socialism this country gets heaped upon it, the idiots that put Barry Hussein in there will PAY right along with the rest of us!

And I take some small enjoyment out of that!

Reactionary
11-04-09 6:06 PM
einsteen--4:07 post---if the medical profession shrinks because there is no $$$$$ in it,..it will affect you too !................idiot.

Reactionary
11-04-09 6:04 PM
Nancy--6:34am post--You STILL believe in the Easter Bunny,....don't you?

There are way too many "IFs", don't you think?

einsteen
11-04-09 4:07 PM
I have no doubt that EW WOULD laugh if doctors retired in droves.Says a lot about the kind of wretch he is!

PCGS70
11-04-09 11:03 AM
Give Pelosi the finger.

Graysongs
11-04-09 9:12 AM
Yesterday was the end for ObaMao and his agenda. Sure, Dem leadership will huff and puff, but incumbents know they need to fear the voters a whole h*ll of a lot more than they need to fear Pelosi, Barney Frank et al. This 1900 page "health care" bill just cut down a lot of trees for political egos. Maybe the "Earth Liberation Front" will retaliate against Congress for this heinous crime?

EllisWyatt
11-04-09 8:04 AM
Nancy

What about the doctors and nurses? Do you think that they are going to take on 40 million new patients for less money than they earn now? Who are you to tell people what they can earn? Only losers talk like that; if you were productive, you would not spout such nonsense.

I will laugh when doctors retire in droves. Who will provide the health care if doctors say "enough"?

Hopplehead,

Only a failure would demand that there be a limit placed on what others can earn. Instead of tearing down people who are smarter than you, why not go out and try and earn wealth yourself?

You DO know that the total national wealth of all households and non-profits is about $52 trillion, right? And that we have a national debt of $11 trillion, proposed additional debt of $12 trillion, interest payments of $2 trillion and unfunded obligation of $45 trillion. All of the wealth minus all of the debt equals a deficit of $18 trillion!

All of our assets can't pay our debts!

dyingov
11-04-09 7:38 AM
The fraudsters are the doctor in most cases. If we put them in prison for 25 years no worry about health care!

NancySI
11-04-09 7:08 AM
dying-good points. You are right, it is not that simple. The fraud is astounding. Start putting the fraudsters in jail for minimum of 25 years, no parole. 1990 pages is scary, but so is the current health care system.

wvhoopie
11-04-09 7:07 AM
Fund the programs is the other option. Rethugs like to underfund programs and then cry we are going broke. Raise taxes to the same level as during Eisenhower's administration, when the middle class bloomed, CEO's only earned 40 times what the average worker, not 450 times as it is today. 90% tax for all wages over $1 million was the tax. That would pay for everything. 43% of the entire wealth of this country is in the hands of 2% of the people. Fund these programs. Raise taxes on the wealth. There, I said it. Raise the taxes on the wealthy.

dyingov
11-04-09 6:45 AM
One more thing. If fraud and waste exists in the current system to the tune of 50-80 billion per year why do you need additional spending to "get" those dollars? Can't those dollars be recovered anyway???

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